Illuminated container



Jan. 7, 1930. F. B. KAUFMAN 1,742,958

ILLUMINATED CONTAINER Filed Dec. 21, 1926 Patented Jan. 7, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ILLUMINATED conramnn Application filed December 21, 1926. Serial No. 156,154.

p This invention relates to improvements in vanity cases, hand bags, and similar containers, and the principal object of the invention is to provide a container of the stated class incorporating in efficient manner a suitable source of electrical energy and a lamp adapted to be energized from said source to effectively illuminate the interior of the container or its immediate surroundings.

19 Another object of the invention to provide a container having the aforesaid electric lighting equipment, inwhich a switch controlling the fiow of current to the lamp is automatically locked in circuit-breaking po- 15 sition when the container is closed.

In the attached drawings:

Figure 1 is a sectional View of a vanity case made in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing the lid partially raised, and 4 Fig. 3 is a plan viewof the fully opened case.

"With reference to the drawings, the container comprises a casing having a lid 2 hinged at 3 to the body 1 of the casing and adapted to be folded back, as indicated in Figs. 2 and 3, to give access to the interior. The lid 2 in the present instanceis adapted to hold a suitable powder compact 4 together 80 with a pad 5 for applying the powder. In the lower part of the casing is a mirror 6 which is detachably secured in the casing and which is so placed as to cover a compartment 7 in which is established a small electric dry -cell or cells 8. At the front of the casing in the present instance is secured abracket 9 which holds a suitable receptacle or socket 10 for a small electric lamp 11, the base 'of of the lamp when in the socket projecting down into the compartment 7 where the cell 8 is located. The mirror is notched at its edge to expose the lamp as shown in Fig. 3.

'Extending from the end of the cell 8 is a flexible contact element 12 which in a depressed position, as shown in Fig. 1, is spaced from the bottom of the bulb 11, and when elevated, as shown in Fig. 2, contacts with the base to complete the circuit. In order to make the circuit, the other pole of the cell is connected directly with the metal casing adjusted position.

through a suitable contact point 13, while the other side of the lamp circuit is electrically connected with the casing through the socket 10 and bracket 9 in the usual manner.

In order to control the contact element 12, I provide at the front of the casing and in the interior thereof a sliding switch element 14 guided for vertical movement by the bracket 9 and having at the bottom an inwardly' projecting part 15 of hard rubber or other'suitable insulating material which engages-the contact 12 as illustrated. The element 14 has at its upper end a knob 16 which projects outwardly through a vertical slot 17 in the casing and provides means for man- 6 ually operating the element 14 to shift the contact 12 into circuit-closing or breaking positions as desired. Frictional contact with the guide elements retains the element 14 in 7 0 It will be noted that-the knob 15 is so arranged that when in the elevated position, it will be engaged by the lower edge of the lid flange when the lid is brought down onto the casing body to close the container, and is moved by the closing lid into the depressed or circuit-breaking position, there to be re-' tained until the lid is again elevated. Accidental operation of the lamp is thereby prevented. While the device is particularly useful when applied to vanity cases, it may find useful application to many forms of purse and hand bag toilluminate both the interior of the container end, where a mirror is involved, the face of the bearer or user.

I claim: 4 1. In a vanity case the combination of a body; a lid hinged to the body, said lid having a suitable powder compact therein; a mir- .90 7

ror located in the body'portion; abattery cell under a portion of the mirror; a bracket having a socket and an electric lamp located in the socket; a contact element in the body. portion arranged to contact with the base of the socket; a sliding switch element in th f body portion guided by the bracket and engaging the contact element; and a knob on the sliding element, said sliding element being so arranged that when the lidis closed J it will depress the slide andmove the con tact element away from the end of the lamp.

2. The combination in a vanity case of a body portion having a'lid hinged thereto; an electric cell in the body portion; a bracket having a socket; an electric lam mounted in the socket; a mirror located in t e bod portion and recessed to expose the electric amp;

a contact element; a switch element arranged adjacent the interior of one wall of the body Eortion and subs'tantiall vertically reciproca le to make and brealz a circuit through the lamp, and operabl only by manual means to a closed sition to make the said circuit through the elfctric lamp and means operable as an incident to closure of the lid to open the switch, whereby the circuit through the lam is broken.

FREDERI K B. KAUFMAN. 

